


Saudade

by EasyNitesAngel



Category: Villainous (Cartoon)
Genre: :), Fluff and Angst, Highkey way too many Little Prince references, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Take a wild fucking guess on who it is, Yes ma’am someone DOES die in this one, and also RealMYST references I could not help myself this time I just needed to be tacky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-19
Updated: 2018-05-19
Packaged: 2019-05-08 20:00:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14701158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EasyNitesAngel/pseuds/EasyNitesAngel
Summary: Original series belongs to PaperhatsAndEvilSchemes.A collection of fluffy moments between Black Hat and Dr. Flug--takes place after "Bond".





	Saudade

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PaperhatsAndEvilSchemes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaperhatsAndEvilSchemes/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Hired](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11554287) by [PaperhatsAndEvilSchemes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaperhatsAndEvilSchemes/pseuds/PaperhatsAndEvilSchemes). 



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>  **Hey guys so this fic is literally 200% extrapolation from Mark's series, so try not to believe too much of p much anything bc while I consulted him for accuracy w/o getting him to give me spoilers, this isn’t his story and it’s technically not a part of his series, so**
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> **And w that in mind I’m also writing Mark’s BH, not canon BH, so if you’re wondering why I wrote like how he is in this this is why**  
> 

> “To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world . . .”  
>  —the fox to the little prince, _Le Petit Prince_ by St. Exupéry

There were few things in life that truly pleased Black Hat. But, he could not deny he wasn’t the least bit grateful for having chosen to settle on this planet; while it was much too bright for his eyes after perhaps millennia of traversing the dark and empty universe and a bit too busy other times, the life on Earth was securing to him in many ways. It reminded him that there was at least a small something the universe had to offer, even after drifting about the stellar stillness of space for as long as he could remember.

But, even he found himself lonely still among the soft hum of human voices from somewhere in the world, the constant movement of every single earthly being, and the persistent presence of warmth enveloping him. The universe was cold and still, glittering with a few blistering masses of stars and condensed planets breathing some life in space, and even after having ravaged and conquered several worlds in his life, he had found none more alive than Earth. And yet, he was still as lonely as he was wandering the universe’s nothingness. 

What was it that he was told so many years ago? He could still see it, the vague face of his true form, a mere reflection, but one he loathed to see and remember. The memory had never once left him. That mocking cheshire grin, glowering eyes glaring right at him, and the smooth melodic voice muttering human words if only to goad at him: “It is lonely when you’re among people, too.”

Black Hat did not like to think that he was right, he did not like to think that he would know how his life on this planet would become. But, four thousand years had come and gone, and even if Earth was far better than aimlessly roaming the empty sea of black space, the overly crowded life seemed to taunt him.

That was, until he had the accidental fortune of meeting one such soul.

He found him in near tatters when he first met the doctor. He was wearing some old, faded and stained shirt with thinning fabric dotted with dusty lint, worn, softened jeans that barely clung to his thin waist, muddied sneakers, and oddly, a paper bag obscuring his entire face. Black Hat remembered mostly hating that thing, the paper bag, for awhile. It would give no hint whatsoever of any emotion when he wasn’t anxious, and he would never get the chance to see what it looked like when he was nervous. He had once found the idea humorous: the doctor, always hunched over and folding himself inward, shoulders curling into himself as his hands kept nervously twitching and the resorting to intertwining his thin fingers together. And, his quiet voice shrinking with him, the stuttering tyrannizing him and his heart rushing. Always anxious, of all things. If only Black Hat had ever gotten the chance to marvel at what his face, pathetically contorted by fear and frightened eyes, would have looked like. 

Black Hat had noticed a pattern among human souls; it would have given him a bitter and somber pang in his chest, how its light dimmed in a matter of what seemed like mere minutes, the color gradually dulling as a human began to forget the means of living at such a young age. The children’s souls, he observed, were always the most brilliant. Then there was Flug’s, whose own energy never ceased to flicker at the threat of age or the dying luster of human happiness. He had never been so fond of anything before.

And, those eyes were the most beautifully captivating things he had ever seen. The inky pitch blackness surrounding a starry white center; they had been very shy and frightened eyes when he had first witnessed them, and while he somewhat missed that tempting and raw vulnerability, he could never get enough of them now. He would always get lost in them, luring him into a placid trance of nostalgia that reminded him of a time before Earth, before living in its constant thrum of life and noise. Always glittering, but he noticed there was something shining in them that he had not seen before.

“...Sir?”

He could see his doctor shift slightly beside him in his bed and adjust the silk sheets before looking up at him with those wonderful eyes, pupils gently glimmering in the dark. “Yes, Flug?” he felt himself gently place a hand on the doctor’s cheek, feeling the soft, warm skin, the thrum of blood, and the smooth, yet calloused scars underneath his palm. This small human, in his very hands; small, yet so brilliant. He could not get enough of him, but he was somehow still enough. 

“Do you… Would you mind telling me a little more of what your life was like before coming here?” Flug asked, voice rasped with fatigue.

He hummed as he tried to recall a few stories, eyes never once leaving Flug’s: “Hm. Perhaps a shorter one, this time. It’s been a long day for you,” his thumb went to gently caress beneath Flug’s eye and he could feel him lean into the touch. “You might have heard this one. When I was younger, I had come across a small planet belonging to this… people…” he shifted his gaze as if to search around the dark room for the memory, “well, humanoids, for that matter. They were more clever than most I have encountered, even still. I believe they called themselves the Gehn, and they lived underground. And, they had quite the superiority complex,” he trailed the hand on Flug’s cheek down to his back, gently pulling him in, “The Gehn were quite fond of traveling, they made so many of these books…”

Black Hat liked to soften the garbling of human words on his tongue when he was in bed with Flug. Everything seemed to slow down around him, time seemed to quietly ease a strange burden in his chest. It was when forcing himself to speak for humans to comprehend him became nearly effortless.  


At some point, Flug had silently fallen asleep to the soothing rumbling in Black Hat’s chest. He felt slightly colder as his heartbeat slowed, but Black Hat found himself nuzzling into his scientist’s messy hair, a hand buried in it as he enveloped himself in Flug’s warmth.

Black Hat did not need sleep, but Flug had once insisted he try it despite his efforts to avoid it. Sleep was not as awful or as uneventful as he had imagined: it was peaceful. For a moment, he could put Earth’s swarming life aside and all would be quiet for a few moments. It was almost a glimpse of his youth, but he could still feel the presence of the planet’s persistent heat. All was still, all was silent, but it was not cold. It was a gift from his little human he would always cherish.

He awoke when he felt the sunlight draped across his back. He slowly blinked, taking in a long breath while summoning some shadows to cover the window and keep the room a bit dim for Flug. He found the scientist had moved away from him some during the night, back facing him, and he pulled the sleeping human into his body again to tangle his legs with the other’s. Flug had a tendency to move around in his sleep, and some nights were worse than others for him, but Black Hat had noticed even after having consumed his nightmares in the past that they seemed to be dissipating from his conscience over the years. Something within him made him feel content at the thought. As he breathed in the doctor’s faint scent, a soft purr started in his chest and he shifted down the bed to rest his chin against the top of the doctor’s head.

Flug stirred in his lose grasp, a soft hum escaping his lips. As soon as Black Hat heard him inhale deeply, he felt Flug’s body beginning to move and turning onto its other side to face him, heartbeat quickening slightly, the skin becoming warm again. He sensed those beautiful eyes looking right up at him.

It had been awhile since Flug had last worn a bag on his head. 

A small smile graced Black Hat’s features before he leaned in to peck Flug’s forehead, enjoying the human’s soft skin under his thin lips. Flug brought an arm over the eldritch’s side and stiffened his back and legs into a stretch for a few moments before nestling into his chest. It was in moments like these when Black Hat would let himself marvel at the rare beauty of mortal lives, when its messiness and emotions would come together for a short time of peace. He would never admit it, but he did envy mortals greatly. They were subject to free will, they were short-sighted and so tiny compared to the universe, they did not live for very long at all. It seemed like a much simpler life, knowing very little. 

But, then there was his own doctor, who knew far too much for the average human’s own good; even for a soul eater, for that matter. He did not know whether he truly liked it that way, because Flug was perhaps one of the only humans in the universe who truly understood him, but being so clever would get to him when time played with his mind. Mortals were so finite. Time was all they could call it: the beginning, middle, and end of it all. Black Hat knew of no such thing, but it existed among mortals, and it was such a powerful entity. With Flug, he could see his mind forget the means of time, what determined manipulated his life. No matter how much Black Hat desired otherwise, it would be dangerous for the man to lose track of it to a being that did not live under it. He did not want to know of time nor did he ever desire to encounter it, because that would be when Flug’s story ends. Black Hat was only an eye of the universe: there was no story for him and there never would be.

Flug groaned beside him, fatigue beginning to lazily leave his mind. “G’morning, Black Hat,” he muttered.

Black Hat chuckled at the sight of the man trying to wake up, and remembered to keep his voice soft: “I take you slept well, dove?”

He heard him hum in affirmation before he squinted his eyes slightly, “It’s bright in here…”

“Would you like for me to make the room more darker?”

“Mmh… No…” before Black Hat noticed, Flug tilted his head upward to kiss at his chest.

The eldritch let out a languid sigh, letting himself melt into the sweet feather-light touches of his human. A teasing smirk crept its way onto his lips and his voice lowered, “Oh?” He could feel a shiver gently rush down Flug’s spine. The scientist whined in response, now almost fully awake. Black Hat unwrapped himself from the doctor’s body and nipped at his shoulder, if only to admire the small gasp the man was too tired to restrain, and slowly climbed to his knees to loom over him and trap the human beneath him. 

Flug, his dear little human. Black Hat could not understand how he ever had the luck to have such a soul to himself.

He lowered himself to kiss at Flug, trailing down to his neck, littered some of his exposed collar bone with more gentle bites as a hand drifted up into the doctor’s lose shirt. He felt his human groan at the touch, squirming impatiently. His tongue lapped at some of the bleeding nicks, the hand at Flug’s side pushed the shirt further up, Black Hat slowly trailed down and savored the soft expanse of bare skin. He knew Flug’s small body by heart by now, and it never ceased to please him when he heard each slightly muffled gasp and quiet whimper the human made and watch the bruises reveal themselves, and the blood well up some short moments afterward. The lovely marks he made, the sweet sounds he could elicit. All of it was his, all of it he created. 

And, he would consume Flug in every aspect he could: in mind, body, and soul. He could hear the faint absent buzzing in the the scientist’s mind as the man utterly lost himself in bliss, his vision fading between reality and a soft white for every few moments. The squishy nerves ignited with electricity as the eldritch entangled every strand and fiber of the cambion’s being with his own form.

Some part of Black Hat’s conscience collapsed into a state of static calm whenever he found himself inside the human. It was much too tempting now to lose his being in the fog veiling the flickering presence of an ethereal state of being where he could see the man’s heart darkening as he grasped it gently and embracing the eldritch as much, perhaps more, as a cambion could. His soul no longer tentatively wavered between the bounds of moral obligation and corrupt madness. His Flug was no longer afraid, he no longer hesitated. They both had needed something for so long. Flug belonged entirely to him, Black Hat belonged entirely to Flug.  
Even through the hazy feeling leading him into a lucid trance from some other time, Black Hat was certain of one thing: he would never lose Flug.

• ∞ •

Flug had been alone for the first several years of his life, as much as Black Hat despised thinking about it. He was a resilient creature, nonetheless, for which the eldritch was grateful considering his temperamental nature many humans did not know how to handle.

Which was an odd thing; it was perhaps more bad than good for him, Black Hat knew this, but he was not one to resist desire: and he needed company as much as Flug should not love him. For humans, being more intelligent was often a bad thing. They were happier when they were ignorant. Perhaps that was why they were so close-minded, so unaware of everything. But, Flug was much too shrewd; Black Hat could see his heart wilting to the whims of the eldritch nature, the threads of his sanity eroding away. It was slow for a human, as Black Hat looked into his soul some years ago and saw one minuscule, parasitic spot blackening a very small part of his being, but that might have been the soul eater part of him.

Black Hat enjoyed looking at his human’s soul. It was still bright despite his age in the perspective of men, glowing as if to sneer at the concept of fading with mortals’ time. The first he had done it was when Flug was relatively new—although he never told the doctor—, when the corporation was a small business. Out of the handful of times he had done it, the first was the most memorable for whatever reason.

It was a restless soul then. Small. Frightened. It seemed very hesitant, very lost. It quivered at his grasp, wavering between human grayness and true chaos. It was bound tautly by human judgement and benevolent obligation, though the strings were stretched and worn. The ball of energy was not entirely bright despite its nearly scintillating glare: he remembered there being a few speckles darkening some of the energy, like a weak parasite eating away at it very slowly. His claws plunged into Flug’s chest, not breaching the flesh nor the bone, but into the black matter traversing through his body, into the plane that diverged into the one in which he existed where most of the most of his soul lived. Many times, human souls lived through several dimensions simultaneously (yet not as prominently as in the one its body resided), but their body could not see any sign of the infinite realities that were not their own. Flug’s, however, recognized several equally—possibly because of his soul eater attributes. He found the soul cute, in a way. Almost pitiably so, because a frightened and desperate one was the easiest to corrupt. But, Black Hat did not know then why he had already come with those tiny, nearly inconspicuous spots.

He had changed since then. Flug was no longer seen as a mere pawn, a toy. Black Hat rarely chose to admire it, as the doctor always felt unsettled when he did so, even saying the claws ripping into some part of him brought about a vague, yet unpleasant ache. The last time he witnessed it, he remembered thinking of a solar eclipse. It was blotted with inky nothingness, areas that sucked in light, but the soul was still bright as ever.

Sometimes, if he listened closely, he could hear the tightly wound energy shiver, throbbing life. It spent its time a little too quickly to his liking. A mortal creature only had so many heartbeats to spend in one lifetime.

Darkness was not the only thing Black Hat had noticed, however.

There were a handful of times he could hear it flicker. It would snap like a spark for a second. It would disappear, and suddenly reappear. He knew all too well what that meant for a human. They were not designed to handle solitude, nor to avoid intimate bonds. Flug had never really had any true friends growing up, no one ever truly loved him until, well, he had an established relationship with Black Hat. But, that never stopped him.

Black Hat had to remind himself sometimes that Flug was human. He was too persistent and tenacious for his own good. He was always looking for something as if he were expecting a beginning and end to everything. He was mortal. Yet, he never seemed his let loneliness ever get to him; he always worked around it, recognized other things he enjoyed doing. He was almost short-sighted as any other human who lived in their very own little world trying to fulfill what they believed was their purpose, or try to seek it. Very few humans were like Flug in that manner, who _knew_ why he existed; they were often far too conceited, or too miserable, or too obsessive over possessing useless things… much like Black Hat, himself. 

Perhaps they truly needed each other, more than how horrible the end of it could be.

• ∞ •

“You have everything packed?” 

“Yes, Black Hat. I only told you eight-hundred times in the past hour.”

“Hm. I think it was four times, actually.” Black muttered as he picked at Flug’s tie, which had been knotted too asymmetrically to his liking, “I swear,” he huffed, “it’s been how long—how many years has it been? I wouldn’t know—since I’ve shown you to tie a damn tie?”

He heard Flug sheepishly chuckle at the remark.

“Fuck, I guess it wouldn’t matter, whether it would be two years or twenty years ago because you never seem to get it.”

“Well, hey, I _thought_ I got it down this time! And, I _thought_ it looked fine! But, _nooooo_ , you and your high standards had to fix a tie that was _barely_ imperfect.”

Black Hat scoffed and rolled his eyes, a smirk sneaking its way onto his lips. “Trust me, my dove, I know imperfection when I see it. Your planet is absolutely infested with it—believe me, I would know.” With one last tug, he stepped back to approve his work. “I just… I like to fix what I can.”

“Hm… Well, in that case, I never knew I would be seen as perfect by you, Black Hat.”

“Oh, you’re only flattering yourself right now, Doctor. Although,” he paused, making sure Flug noticed his conspicuous once-over at him to see his human shiver slightly and flush like he always did, “I’d say you’re more perfect than most. Especially in a suit.”

“I know,” Flug giggled.

Black Hat could not resist to chuckle at Flug’s remark. “You cheeky little bastard. I can’t believe you, my own husband, have grown resistant to my perfectly captivating charm. That was my favorite redeeming quality, you know.”

“Well, it’s still my favorite among many others, Mr. Black Hat. I don’t see why you should stop charming your own husband.”

Black Hat laughed. “I suppose you’re right.”

“I always am.”

“Well, might I just add, it’s hard to argue with a genius, especially a stubborn one,” he offered his arm to Flug, grinning at him almost sardonically, “Shall we, Flug? The gala is about to start in an hour, and as much as I would love to be fashionably late, we still need to check into the hotel.”

“Of course, Black Hat,” Flug said as he took the eldritch’s arm, and Black Hat collapsed their bodies into shadows to whisk themselves away to the villain gathering in Rome.

Flug found himself reappeared in a luxurious suite, presumably the the room Black Hat had reserved. He looked over to his left to see Black Hat flopping onto lavish bed against the wall, leaning back dramatically. Before he could start, the eldritch spoke with closed eyes, “Flug, would you be a dear and check us in? The luggage is right by the door outside of the building.”

Scoffing at the sight of Black Hat relaxing on the plush comforter, a rare sight to see, he responded, “Anything for you, your majesty.”

“And, while you’re still referring to me as a regal king as you _should_ be, please fetch someone to serve us a bottle of Louis XIII and a bowl of complimentary strawberries picked five hours ago from the fields of Andalusia.”

After hearing the door close shut and Flug’s snickering trail behind the noise, Black Hat was left alone to the quiet tranquility of the hotel room and the faint sound of music playing outside somewhere. It had been awhile since he had last visited Rome—back when it was young, confused little country among the rest of its fellow European kin—, let alone the extravagant St. Regis Hotel in its earlier years. It had been renovated a lot since then, apparently. Taking a deep breath in and poking his serpentine tongue out, he got an almost overwhelming whiff of the overly clean cloth of the duvet as he turned to lie on his side.

It had been a few minutes until he began to hear Flug’s voice from somewhere outside in the hallway, and when the door clicked to unlock, he faded from sight. He watched as the bellhop set the bags down, Flug idly chatting with him, then offering him a tip before he left. Black Hat decided to stay invisible for a moment longer and realized his doctor was walking towards the bed to lie down right on top of him.

“Oh, god damn you! You did that on purpose!” he wheezed as Flug planted himself on his stomach, the scientist laughing all the while, “Get up, you’re going to wrinkle your suit, you little shit!”

Flug only nuzzled into Black Hat’s chest in response. “But, I’m busy weakening the almighty, great and powerful Black Hat! Who would have known his greatest downfall was suffocation to a bony human’s body crushing him to his death?”

“Yes, yes, but as much as I am dying right now, your suit’s more important,” he watched as Flug sighed and commented on him being a ‘party pooper’, and before he managed to get off the bed, Black Hat summoned a few shadowy tendrils to wrap around Flug’s torso to pull him right back onto the mattress while the scientist yelped in surprise. “Rule number one! Never listen to an eldritch abomination.” He chuckled, pulling his human closer to himself and not caring to notice the smooth rumbling starting in his chest. Flug happily snuggled up to him.

“…When does the gala start, sir?”

“In around fifteen minutes or so. So, we have, I’d say, thirty minutes until we need to be there.”

“Nice. Your punctuality never fails to swoon me—in fact, I think it rivals your charisma.”

“I take that as a compliment. Besides, I think we deserve all the alone time we can get for the next few days. It’s awfully quiet without Twiddly-Dee and Twiddly-Dum running around causing ruckus.”

An absent, floating feeling invaded Black Hat’s mind as he felt the small human chuckle, his chest rising and falling quickly as his heart rate hastened for a second. He remembered something for a moment. “Oh, honey, it’s so quiet without the kids.”

“Hush, you. I said I wanted quiet time with my darling little husband in Rome, not your fucking sass.”

“Whoops, forgot to leave that behind at the house.”

“Well, in any case, I’m satisfied with whatever you give me, dove.”

“Aww.”

Then, for a second, Black Hat had trouble remembering whether he watched Flug’s playful smirk dance across his features, or perhaps the human sighed and nestled closer to him. He felt a part of him not living in the present.

• ∞ •

For a moment, Black Hat saw nothing. Felt nothing. All was white, but the glare of light was not present.

He recognized this. It was an ethereal emotion, it was somber. He did not know when he had ever felt this, but it felt familiar to him. 

It was empty. The space was not breathing, but it was not cold.

He barely remembered being here. Like a missing piece. There was an empty hole bored into his chest. He felt as though he had been here a long time…

Yet, he had no distinct memory of ever being here before.

The space pushed against him, moving. He felt himself moving somewhere.

It was almost warm. Colorless. Dark.

He had been here a number of times.

It would not be his last.

• ∞ •

“He will not be yours forever, you know.”

Somethings impaled Black Hat’s chest, like a disembodied hand piercing right through the breast bone when he opened his eyes. The black matter within in his body rippled. He found himself falling to the ground from the impact. It was not from the creature before him. It was from... that feeling again. 

He kept encountering… whatever it was. It was happening more often. It would always capture him during an inopportune time, seize him from the present for a few seconds too long. 

Where was he, again? That thing wanted to steal a few moments...

They were not on Earth. 

He had seen white...

The mocking cheshire grin...

Those glowering eyes...

“‘Blackie?”

He watched White Hate staring at him impassively. His mirror had a blank expression on his face. 

“Don’t you realize that? Your human. He’s—”

“I know, White Hat. Believe me when I say this, _I know_ ,” he spat. “Why do you care? What honestly makes _you_ think that you know more than I do about developing bonds with mortals?”

Black Hat felt something shudder down what was possibly his spine when he heard that silvery laughter. It was almost akin to a human’s, but much more melodic. “You might want to watch your attitude, if I were you. I only summoned you here for a nice, civilized chat—no hard feelings, no strings involved. Just you and little, old me,” he grinned at Black Hat’s muffled scoff. “But, trust me, ‘Blackie, I know far more about developing bonds with mortals than you could ever dare to imagine. Humans, especially. Their lives are so very fleeting. The life of their own planet is so very fleeting…”

Black Hat hated how the eldritch before him was speaking to him with human words. He made it look effortless. He made his voice ethereal and it somehow echoed in the empty space enveloping them, a pleasant dulcet sound to which many humans liked to listen. It only served to mock him.

“…And I care because… it looks like your time has been running out with your precious little human—“

“Shut up.”

“Black Hat, you need to listen. You’ve had him for for almost _two_ hun—“

“ _I said shut up_ ,” his voice crackled at the change to speaking human words, the bellow was much too loud for a human to withstand, but White Hat chose to stop himself. “You know _nothing_ , White Hat. You know _nothing_ about him, you know _nothing_ about mortals. You only know how to play with them when they need you most. So, please, _do tell me_ , why are we speaking, again? Why do you feel the need to waste _my_ time?”

“His life will not survive for much longer with you. You know this. Look at him. He is _only_ human, humans are so delicate and cannot live with an eldritch with their sanity intact.”

“He _wants_ this, White Hat. He is willing to sacrifice anything. I am not forcing him to stay with me by any means.”

Black Hat watched that emotionless stare see right through him, right through the empty space crushing them. His form shifted. His mirror chuckled. “I’ve said this before, ‘Blackie. Back when I had the fortune of meeting him. Flug is much too clever for his own good—”

“ _Do not say his name_.”

White Hat held up his hands in mock surrender coolly. “My apologies, _your precious little human_ is much too clever for his own good. He understands you better than anyone has ever dared to try to do the same. That is, it is arguable he understands you better than anyone else. But, I am certain there’s a little something he doesn’t know that I do.”

The dark one looked at him, a scowl on his features, but there was no movement from either entity.

White Hat smirked at him. “You’re still not happy. Deep down, you’re consumed by fear. In fact, I find it safe to say that...” he pauses to allow the other to drink in his words, “you’ve been lying to him this enti—”

Within a second, Black Hat disappeared from the other’s sight and before he could turn around, he felt a searing talon plunge just below the skin-like shell beneath his blind eye. His silvery ichor felt cool against the sweltering wound. White Hat slowly turned to his reflection, who was breathing heavily.

“It’s a damn shame we’ve come to an ultimatum for as long as we inhabit Earth, White Hat,” he hissed, watching the eldritch only lightly touch the wound, but not healing it. “I would give almost anything to kill you right now. But, just for this once, I’ll play fair.”

The dark eldritch turned away and walked further to the edge of the empty pocket dimension. Just before White Hat could call out to him, Black Hat had vanished back to Earth.

• ∞ •

It had been a long business day. Black Hat had spent the majority of the afternoon to meet with a frequent client, a rookie, as Dementia had once liked to call it. Those were always the most annoying, and the most tacky, too. They often got cocky fairly quickly once they endured their first few rounds of beginner’s luck.

Ah, humans. They could always be counted on to be so short-sighted, particularly the younger and less-experienced ones. This “rookie” in particular was boring in person, as well. At least he was somewhat open to Black Hat’s input. But, his mind wandering back to Flug earlier…

He had not seen his human all that much during the week. He knew he was very busy: sales were always high during this time of the year in late August. Of course, Black Hat could not complain all that much, since he was just as busy as Flug was at the moment. He thought about the possibility of simply lying in bed with him, spend the night with him. Something simple and peaceful.

There was a sudden moment when he felt detached from his body, like he was looking at himself from a time that was not the present. He remembered feeling a little melancholy for some reason…

Right, Dementia.

Then some part of him made him realize something he had not noticed until many years ago. How quiet the manor had been for so long. How it had become slightly colder.

He was thinking about this because…

It was only a matter of time until…

He found himself standing idly by his desk, his mind… somewhere, and for a moment, he was floating. Everything seemed cloudy and soft at the edges. The grandfather clock’s ticking in the office muffled. The rotary dial was probably ringing, but the sound was faint. He could only hear the idle buzzing from the back of his mind.

Then, he was thrown back into the present. Something slammed into his chest the moment he was brought back into the reality in which he resided, toppling his body to the ground.

That had been happening more and more to him lately.

Black Hat stood, brushed off the dust on his trousers, and headed to the lab.

The sounds of metal welding and screeching filled his ears as he neared the room. He could see the sterile white lights through the door cracks, the muffled radio playing, and Flug’s own voice for a second, deep in concentration and submerged in fatigue. Black Hat collapsed himself into a ribbon of mist and silently glided to Flug’s side. 

His scientist seemed to be finalizing another product, as he frantically switched between making adjustments and rewriting and fixing the jumble of miscalculations on the blue print before him. His muttering was rushed and laced with anxiety, hands jittery and slightly shaking. 

“Flug.”

He watched as the human jumped slightly and glanced at the time for a split second before greeting the eldritch, “Um, uh. Good evening, _jefe_.”

Black Hat chuckled at the doctor’s sheepish grin, but found himself staring at the small wrinkles surrounding the smile, the skin, how his hands slightly trembled from stress.

And the feeling returned...

“...Black Hat?”

Immediately, he was pulled back. He cleared his throat. “ _Good evening_ , Doctor? I think it would be better to say good morning.”

Flug let out a nervous laugh, as if he were expecting a scolding. “Sorry...”

“Oh, please, I know it’s been a busy week,” he says, bending down to peck Flug’s cheek, “Speaking of, I think you deserve a little break. Come. Off to bed with you. You’re in no trouble.”

“Oh, um,” Flug starts, fidgeting with the tool in his hand. “I’m... I’m not really tired, sir. I haven’t been able to sleep.”

Black Hat stared off somewhere, silent for a minute. He could feel Flug shrinking slightly from guilt. He muttered an apology under his breath. “Hm. Well, we can meet in the parlor, then. You _desperately_ need some time out of the lab,” he pauses for a moment, the strange feeling still lingering. He lightly squeezed Flug’s shoulder. “Find a stopping point, dove—I expect to see you in around ten minutes. I’ll be making tea.”

“Yes, sir.”

Before taking his leave, Black Hat stole another chaste peck from his doctor and smiled softly at him. It was strange how they had not been able to see each other for several days despite being in the same house. As he appeared in the kitchen, he was greeted with silence, an odd thing with which to be greeted. He was still used to noticing Dementia scouring the room for something to eat. 

The eldritch sighed, trying to ignore the strange emptiness in his chest. He conjured a kettle from the floating dust in the air and got to work. 

He found Flug had been curled up comfortably into an antique arm chair engrossed in a large book. The human had not noticed Black Hat walking in until he had set Flug’s cup down on the table beside him. “Thank you, sir,” he said absently. 

Curious, Black Hat peeked over the book’s cover to skim over what Flug was reading. “Oh, is this the _Selenitic Age_ I’ve told you about a few weeks ago?”

“Um, yes...” Flug answers, eyes not leaving the pages. “You know, these people were actually quite clever. I honestly wouldn’t mind if I could take some of their resources.”

“Oh? Did you not see the page at the very front?”

“Um... maybe...?” he mutters, skipping back to see a blank page yellowed with age. He glanced up at Black Hat silently, a confused brow raised. 

Black Hat knelt down and grabbed at the book cover and picked at the paper covering the other side of with his talons. Another page came loose and flopped to the other side atop Flug’s thumb. He smirked at hearing his scientist’s gasp. 

“...No way,” he laughed, eyes sparkling in awe. On the page was a moving image viewing an island, rushing through rugged cliffs carving an empty shore, a barren field of cracked soil, a gulf encasing a body of water reflecting the orange sky and crystal-like rocks jutting out from the sea, and the only sign of civilization seemed to be a small eroding building, appearing abandoned. Flug recognized the world the image presented was what was exactly written in the book. From the map before the journal entries and research contained in the book, the image illustrated all of it to the exact detail. “It’s so beautiful...”

“Would you like to go there?”

Black Hat found himself grinning at Flug, who only gave him an utterly stunned look. “ _You could do that_?” he squeaked, voice laced with incredulity, “ _Would you really take me there_?”

The eldritch coolly shrugged, “Well, since you can’t sleep, I might as well help you take your mind off things. I'll just, since I guess we won't actually be needing any tea..." he waved his hand and the antique porcelain disappeared within an instant. "Here, let me show you how you can get there.”

“Wait, what—?” Flug barely processed Black Hat’s hand reaching down to the page and touching the image, and in the next moment, he vanished. He nearly missed the black silhouette that had suddenly faded into the eldritch’s form right by a fountain in the moving picture. Then, the doctor placed his own hand where Black Hat had his.

A tingling sensation ignited his nerves, and before he noticed his own body disappearing from his sight, he was standing right beside his husband. A sweet, almost metallic scent of salt from the gulf overwhelmed his senses and he could hear the soft whistling of the wind combing through the selenite crystals in the water. He stood in silence for several moments.

“You know,” Black Hat started, waiting to capture at least some of his human’s attention. He could not help to admire the marvel shimmering across his features, the wide grin, and the curious, dark eyes taking in as much as they could. “The people who wrote those books were indeed very intelligent. I can’t say I’ve ever seen any other creatures attempting what they could do so often. But, they were very arrogant regarding their abilities….” he noticed Flug was now looking at him, and continued, “They believed that when they were writing these books, they were creating entire worlds. But, they never considered that they truly were not.”

Flug chuckled at his remark. “Well, you can be a little vain when you can travel to places like this. Besides, it’s better to think that you made an entire world rather than it already existing somewhere in the universe, right?”

“You humans and your damn arrogance,” he felt Flug raise himself up onto his toes to kiss at his cheek.

“Hm, it’s fun when you can take the credit, sometimes, Black Hat. You know, when others don’t notice it.”

“…It’s not very classy.”

“Hm, it’s not. That’s why I don’t do it.”

“Oh, you,” Black Hat says, looking at the scientist expectantly. “Well, aren’t you going to explore? The book has brought you all this way, and I expect you to enjoy yourself while you’re at it.”

“Right! Uh, well, there’s supposed to be this mine that has a bunch of minerals that I don’t think our planet is all that abundant in, and—oh! Apparently, from the sounds of it, this island has produced elements only we can artificially synthesize! And, there’s an area deep underground where those people managed to find an abundance of radioactive substances, and—“

Black Hat followed Flug across the island, listening to his excited rambling as he described where they were going, some of the history that had happened on the land that the book had recalled. It had been the first time in several days since he had seen Flug so bright again, despite the light in his soul…

And, he began to drown in that strange feeling of floating…

• ∞ •

Black Hat could not ignore the signs of his human’s body beginning to fail on him. But, Flug seemed to pay no mind to it all. He seemed as happy as ever, brilliant as ever, and as long as the little scientist was content, Black Hat decided he might as well be, too.

He tried to not notice the quivering, worn hands, or how softened Flug’s voice had become, or how his skin had loosened and became dotted with patches of freckles, or how his legs struggled to move as quickly as they once could. He tried to not look at how the human’s body had become so fragile so shortly, as it weakened and became more clumsy, how his hearing and sight worsened slightly, and when work became too dangerous for him. 

Instead, he tried to focus on what persisted, what remained despite his age. 

Flug was still as sharp as he had been before. It seemed that nothing could take that from him. There were only so many things Flug was willing to give away.

After having helped the doctor into the dining room, Black Hat stepped into the kitchen silently and waited for 5.0.5 to finish cooking. The familiar sweet scent made him smile softly, and even a few minutes before when he woke Flug up, the human had caught the smell before he did. If he were to be honest with himself, Black Hat could never get enough of that goofy grin Flug always put on whenever he smelled 5.0.5 making honey pancakes for breakfast.

As he returned to the dining room and set Flug’s plate down before the human, Black Hat reached down to peck at Flug’s cheek. The skin, he had noticed, while still warm, had become slightly colder compared to a few centuries before. “Here you are, my dove. I’ll be in the study finalizing the forms for a few moments while you eat your breakfast.” As much as he despised it, Black Hat had to give up some time to shutting down the corporation. It was only time being spent away from Flug, when he may not know when his last time will be with him. 

Black Hat told himself he was satisfied with the part of his life on Earth. He decided it was best to let it come to a close when the time came for Flug to leave. Even if he thought it best to retire the doctor several days ago, he could not stop thinking about how close the ending had come in such a short amount of time. He remembered many years ago when he had not yet understood what an end meant, for that matter, because he had never lived worrying much about mortal concepts.

He tried to ignore it, but he could not stop thinking about his life after Flug. He had been trying anything and everything to at least get ready for it, to at least be less affected by it. 

He found himself standing idly by the study’s entryway. 

The papers could wait a moment longer, he thought. 

Once Flug had caught the sound of the eldritch’s nearing footsteps, he softly spoke, “I thought you needed to do something, Black Hat?”

“Ah, well,” he starts, finding a seat beside his human, “my work won’t be going anywhere. I’d rather spend time with you.”

Flug chuckled, and stole a bite from his pancakes. “Your charm never ceases to impress me.”

“Well, I need to convince my husband to stay with me somehow.”

“You don’t need try very hard, you know. I’ve stayed for a long time,” he pauses to nibble at the next piece, “Although, I never really had much of a choice to begin with.”

Black Hat laughed. “You snarky little shit.”

“That has always been the curse of such an intelligent man like me.”

“God, once you start, no one can stop you. Not even I.”

“Well, once you’ve lived with an eldritch horror for a few centuries, you eventually will discover their weaknesses,” Flug says, looking up to see 5.0.5 walking in with his own helping of a towering stack of pancakes and moving a seat across Black Hat to sit on the floor. Before doing so, he cooed at Flug in greeting and nuzzled at his hand. “Aw, good morning, ‘Fives. Thank you for breakfast, it’s wonderful as always.”

“I can’t believe you’re nicer to that bear. I didn’t get a good morning,” Black Hat pouted humorously. 

“Well, I can’t help that he’s so perfect.”

“Of course he is. You made him, after all.”

Black Hat found himself reveling in Flug’s soft giggle. “Oh, aren’t you quite a flirt.”

Then, everything surrounding the eldritch began to slow. He felt as though he were falling, but he was still perched on the elegant dining chair. At some point, the room fell silent, and time seemed to slow to stillness. 

Black Hat remembered all of this vividly; Flug’s lips were upturned slightly, the wrinkles on his skin gently formed a small grin, and his voice, slightly hoarse from age, was laughing and for a moment, he no longer looked so old. Some of that young mortal beauty returned to him.

But, he felt something in his chest sink as he watched the walls and furniture shrivel to dust, his human and the bear frozen to stillness, and in a few moments, they had vanished and left him in an empty space of white. 

He remembered being here some time ago...

He felt a familiar coldness enveloping his skin, but it held an ethereal warmth to it. The space surrounding him was not breathing. There was no light and no darkness, but a soft white invading his vision. Something was pushing lightly against him as he continued to fall into the depths of nothingness. 

That was a long time ago, back when he had lived in a more simpler dimensional realm. But, he could remember every last detail, from the slightly sweet smell of that manor, how warm Earth had been, how that strange feeling of melancholy lingered at his side.

Since then, he began to meander elsewhere, he was lost...

And, then, he finally remembered to where he had gone.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey Markiboi you might be wondering what the ever-loving fuck that surprise I kept telling you abt was supposed to be
> 
> Sweetie it was I got to kill Flug off first : )
> 
>  
> 
> ~~Hey Mr. Black Hat I don’t feel so good~~
> 
> * * *
> 
> Tumblr: [here](https://easy-nites-angel.tumblr.com)


End file.
